[-empyre-] beyond screens

Fri Feb 25 18:03:17 EST 2011

I dont know where my post got lost, but this is another attempt to introduce
myself and work to the list. Below is something that I tried to post a few
days ago:

Thank you for the invitation to participate in this discussion.  Sorry for
my silence in the last weeks, I have been following the interesting ideas
that have come up so far. Rather than a formal introduction of my work, I
will try to introduce my ideas and practice by commenting/responding to the
ideas that have emerged from the discussions so far.

I was intrigued by Nat and Mayssa’s conversation about what constitutes ‘new
media’ generally and what that means particularly in the Middle East.
Personally I don’t describe myself as a ‘new media artist’ because I work
with a lot of different mediums that can range from handwriting to video.  As
an artist my practice is really based in an interest in publishing be it
online, book format, magazines etc. and as a cultural organizer (if is in
fact the right description for what I do- I really don’t know!) I aim to
create environments for critical discussions.

I have worked on different online projects either through my personal work
or through other kinds of projects. My attraction to the Internet is mostly
driven through a certain mode of publishing and connectivity.

Across Borders was one of the first online projects that I worked on
2004/2005 (and just to clarify Across Borders is not an art project). The
project aimed at connecting Palestinian refugee camps across the region via
virtual space- setting up a page for each camp where they can publish their
daily news and try to connect with relatives in other countries. It was a
pre-facebook/twitter project which today sounds much easier to accomplish,
but back then,

the project had a certain set of technological challenges as well as social
and political ones.

The Internet became more important to me after completing my studies abroad.
Returning to Palestine and trying to develop an art practice of some sort
was initially challenging.  The challenges of mobility within Palestine
(checkpoints between cities and villages) and the difficulties of travel
within the region, emphasized both mental and physical isolation. The
Internet became an important outlet and a way of maintaining a relationship
with the region and the rest of the world. This is in fact the main
inspiration for ArtTerritories- an online platform that I co-founded with
Ursula Biemann.  http://www.artterritories.net/

ArtTerritories generates interviews on a regular basis through interview
sequences that we call Trails- whereby an artist/ practitioner interviews
another artist/practitioner of their choice, and so on. The Trail format is
a slow process of visualizing a network of individuals that operate in
different artistic communities across/within/outside the region. As such the
gaol of ArtTerritories is to strengthen the artist’s voice within the Middle
East and Arab region but also to instigate a dialogue that mobilizes a sense
of community and connectivity in the region.

hope this goes through, hope to pick it up from here

best

shuruq

On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 7:28 PM, Isak Berbic <isakberbic at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Coincidentally this might be relevant to the discussion:
>
> Suzanne Cotter and Rasha Salti, as joint curators of the 10th edition of
> the Sharjah Biennial, describe in their curatorial statement the Biennial as
> a script to be followed. (as a film, with chapters, with a plot and
> characters).
>
> http://www.e-flux.com/shows/view/7873 <http://www.e-flux.com/shows/view/7873>
>
> While I find this particular (initial) press release of the curatorial
> statement rhetorical and convoluted, I have to see the exhibition first,
> which opens in a couple of weeks, to determine whether as I walk from
> gallery space to the next I am metaphorically inhabiting the space of an
> imagined "film". A key aspect to this year's Biennial is that a large
> section of participants are filmmakers and musicians. I believe that Rasha
> Salti has a long standing experience in curating film and video which surely
> contributes to the moving image nature of this Biennial. I am curious to see
> how this will unfold in relation to the concurrent art fair in neighboring
> Dubai (Art Dubai) whose galleries are mostly in the business of selling
> beautiful artifacts (and not videotapes) and thus the objects on display
> will be as expected: objects. To the buyer their materiality is a palpable
> worth.
>
> I was in Singapore a couple of years ago and many of the local Singaporean
> artists were commenting on the Singapore Biennial and how it's first
> rendition (2006) was luxurious with big commissions and large installations.
> But this time around (2008) the work was predominantly projections, images,
> text. The artists send in the DVD's. The requirements mostly are: floor to
> ceiling projection on loop, stereo sound. There is no shipping, there is no
> conservation regulations, there is no guards to keep you form leaving finger
> prints, there is no insurance. It is simply cheaper for the organizers.
>
> -
>
> I would also add that in the case of my own practice, I have noticed that
> my video works (as opposed to my photography, installations…) are far more
> traveled and exhibited. The practicality of shipping a DVD is doing this to
> my exhibition record: (the medium of international currier shipping has a
> great affect on my career). I humbly believe that this experience is shared
> by many artists working today.
>
> Isak Berbic
>
> "Kafka was a realist",  György Lukács
>
> *From:* Mayssa Fattouh <mayssa.f at gmail.com>
> *To:* soft_skinned_space <empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
> *Cc:* soft_skinned_space <empyre at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, February 22, 2011 4:22 PM
>
> *Subject:* Re: [-empyre-] beyond screens
>
> Hi Laura,
>
> Yes true that there are many artists who produce video works in the ME but
> not many do it for the gallery space specifically which was the base of the
> intended archive.
> By trying to answer your question about "what makes artists decide to show
> media works in galleries rather than in the film circuit", I've realized one
> has to question the approach of artists to audiences, the medium, the
> gallery relationship versus festival organizers, the gallery image for
> artists as well as collectors and museums... and is a question that has no
> straight answer I feel, maybe a part of the answer can be found in my
> interview with Hassan Khan on Art Territories where I asked him "is the
> gallery space your preferred choice for showing your work and how would you
> treat your work if it were outside the art space context"
> http://www.artterritories.net/?page_id=1577
> I look forward to the continuation of your conversation and thank you again
> for the food for thought.
>
> Best,
> Mayssa
>
> On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 3:06 AM, Laura Marks <lmarks at sfu.ca> wrote:
>
> Hi Mayssa, Nat, thanks for these developments.
>
> I am puzzled that the BFI archiving initiative you mention (Mayssa) didn't
> find enough material, because there are so many artists working in video in
> the region.
>
> My point was more to ask what makes artists decide to show media works in
> galleries, rather than in the film circuit? Gheith al-Amine, for example,
> shows his experimental narrative work at film festivals, while the others
> you've mentioned show more in the gallery. (Oddly, now that most people work
> in digital video, these works are called "films," but I prefer to call them
> the medium-free "movies") This then gets to the question of distribution,
> which I'll pursue in a later post.
>
> Nat, and Ayah, great points about technical difficulties of installing
> complex work.
>
> Yours, Laura
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "nat muller" <nat at xs4all.nl>
> To: "soft_skinned_space" <empyre at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
> Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2011 3:31:35 AM
> Subject: Re: [-empyre-] beyond screens
>
>
> just to add into the mix:
>
>
> lara baladi's installations (albeit not video) offer a more site-specific
> approach within this context. good examples are the walk-in caleidoscope of
> redundant images "roba vecchia" (2006) and " Al-Fanous Al-Sehri" (2002).
> however, it is hard to imagine them being realised without the big factory
> space of cairo's townhouse gallery. lara's earlier work, which is so much
> about the process of image making, was very much influenced by her move from
> paris to cairo well over a decade ago. she has told me that initially the
> lack of professional photo labs in egypt and the lack of other resources
> dramatically changed the way she worked.
> more on lara's work:
> http://www.bankgalerie.com/content/pdf/pdf1/racinelarabaladi.pdf
>
>
> it's also interesting to note that hassan khan showed his 4-channel
> installation "the hidden location" (2004) for the first time in cairo during
> photocairo4 (2008-9). previously he could not show it in cairo because the
> proper video synchroniser was not available in egypt. this echoes ayah's
> post on logistical difficulties.
>
>
> /nat
>
>
>
> On Feb 19, 2011, at 09:40, Mayssa Fattouh wrote:
>
>
>
> Sorry forgot to mention Wael Shawky as well.
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 11:38 AM, Mayssa Fattouh < mayssa.f at gmail.com >
> wrote:
>
>
>
> Hi Laura,
>
> I think that most artists who have produced single channel videos have
> mainly done so as installations, I'm finding a hard time identifying artists
> who approach single video in a gallery context in the way that Hassan Khan
> does.
> Those who I found are closest to this direction in some of their videos are
> Mounir Fatmi, Jayce Salloum, Ahmet Ogut, Sharif Waked...
> Over a year ago during the Tate curators workshop, Elisabetta Fabrizi from
> the BFI exhibitions had suggested to create an archive of Middle Eastern
> artists videos dedicated for the gallery context, the problem was that there
> were very few examples that would give life to this project.
> Again the gallery system in the Middle East wasn't very developed a few
> years ago for many reasons, this again is changing and with it the artists
> works. Galleries have now created good contacts with collectors and museums,
> the number of galleries showing video is also increasing due also to the
> fact that video is very cost efficient for transportation. It is true though
> that very few collectors in this region are interested in acquiring video
> works as we are still here in the concern of the display.
> I wonder if this issue will be discussed in the near future in one of the
> art fair forums or other, it would certainly be very beneficial for all.
> Thank you Laura for bringing up the subject.
>
> Best,
> Mayssa
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 5:14 PM, Laura Marks < lmarks at sfu.ca > wrote:
>
>
> Hello Nat, Mayssa, Mirene, Ayah,
>
> This is such an interesting discussion. I have some questions about
> single-channel vs. installation, and distribution. It seems a lot of artists
> are turning to gallery projection where possible (following the
> long-standing example of Hassan Khan, for example) because they want to
> shift from the cinematic context to a gallery one. This has happened in
> Western countries earlier, so there's quite a split between those who
> present work at festivals and distribute them like films, or get picked up
> by distributors, and those who present work at galleries and hope to get
> represented by galleries. The latter I think is more lucrative but more
> difficult to achieve. I recall Hassan Khan saying at Homeworks last summer
> that his work is finally being collected by galleries and museums (he's
> represented by Chantal Crousel), but not being shown--and I think this is
> because it's not distributed as single-channel work.
>
> Do you have some thoughts or other examples?
>
> Laura
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "nat muller" < nat at xs4all.nl >
> To: "soft_skinned_space" < empyre at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au >
> Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 6:48:43 AM
> Subject: [-empyre-] beyond screens
>
> dear mirene, ayah and mayssa,
>
> thanks for your great posts!
>
> re: ayah's and mayssa's observation - as well as my own - that the
> dominance of the screen is very prominent and that spatial
> considerations (a.o. in installations, multi-channel, etc) and more
> interactive/participatory media-based work is scarce, was wondering
> about your thoughts why this is the case. do you think this is due to
> a lack in access, resources, financial constraints,..? perhaps in the
> case of beirut a lack of venues - though now matters might have
> changed with the beirut art centre? or does the prominence of the
> screen mean something different (in the case of lebanon)? i have to
> say that i somehow i have noticed more spatial (media) installations
> in egypt.
>
> looking fwd to your thoughts.
>
> /nat
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> +97466894029
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> +97466894029
> Doha, Qatar
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